


Breakneck

by Vxnatori



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, IGPX インモータル・グランプリ | IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix
Genre: Alternate Universe - Racing, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-27
Updated: 2015-03-27
Packaged: 2018-03-19 21:17:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3624579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vxnatori/pseuds/Vxnatori
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Korra is the fastest thing blazing out of the IG-2 and doesn't have the patience to wait for her teammates to catch up. How will she and Team Element fare in trying to outrun the IG-1?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Finally got around to writing this. I really wanted to get the first chapter up for this just to make sure I pit the ideas down somewhere publically tangible so I could see how well it goes. Mecha Tempest is still top of the priority list for now but since its (nearing) completion this should see updates as regular as MT. 
> 
> Now with all that out of the way here it is.

Korra slurped the last of the broth from her cup of instant noodles. She laid back letting her arm, along with the empty cup fall at her side. She sighed indulgently with a huge grin as she stared up at a white ceiling held up by crimson walls to match a black and crimson furnished bedroom. She laid across crimson sheets accompanied by one small azure blanket. A pale hand brushed across her forehead. Eyes that matched the blanket eased shut as the hand gently traveled down her cheek, along her neck, and rested at her chest.

"This is a really unimpressive way to celebrate." the voice that to which the hand belonged remarked in a soothing tone. Korra's lips curled into a smile.

"This is perfect." Her hand slid into the pale one the rested on her chest, just above the top of her gray tanktop. The other tossed the empty, broth stained cup of noodles into a nearby trash bin.

"Shouldn't you be with the boys? With your team?" 

"I should." 

"But...?"

"I'm here with you, Asami. And there are very few places I'd rather be." Korra eased her eyes open and looked up into green eyes that looked down into blue.

"That's sweet." Asami smiled. "But your team just made it into the IG-1." 

"They'll be fine without me for a night. Besides, you know I hate drinking anyway and thats probably most of what they're doing." Korra lifted herself enough that she could scoot back and rest her head on Asami's thigh. "And now I can actually say that I am scoping out the competition since we finally get to race outside of exhibition matches."

"Mhmm," Asami hummed. “You probably won’t beat us if that’s what you’re getting at.”

"Yeah, ok. I'm gonna bring the trophy home this time." Korra smirked as she nodded towards Asami’s IGPX Championship trophy on a glass shelf above her desk. "That way the title’ll stay in the family."

"Sure, tell Kuvira that, I'm sure she'd love to hear it." Asami snorted.

"I will, probably during the season opening ceremony. You know, when I'm less likely to get tackled."

"You'd still be just as likely then honestly."

"Sure she'd attract that much attention?"

"Captain Kuvira does not care about much other than her fiance and 60 miles of track. Besides appearances don't matter much if you're winning."

"Sure they don't. 'Team Element's lone wolf midfielder quoted by teammates as "not being much of a team player."' We won every race last season and they still give me hell about that."

"That's because you aren't much of a team player." Asami giggled.

Korra's face scrunched into a pout as she sat up, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed they both sat on. "I win races. I almost always snag first place because no one can catch me once I drop into speed mode."

"That's not gonna work in the IG-1, Korra, you know that." Asami shook her head. "People actually watch tape here. They'll pick your strategy apart before you can even set it up."

"I'll be ready." Korra smirked.

"Your team should be ready, Korra. Not just you." 

"They should try to keep up."

"How can they if they don't know what you're gonna do?"

"I dunno. Guess they should figure it out." Korra shrugged, her smirk fading into a frown.

"Not gonna last long here thinking like that.” Asami shook her head. 

“I will, I’ll carry my team on my back like I always do and everything’ll be fine.” Korra leaped to her feet, she stood in front of Asami taking both her hands and swinging them slightly. “No more IGPX stuff though. I just want tonight to be about the two of us. No interruptions, no racing, no ‘oh no! Korra’s the most horrible teammate.’ Tonight is all about Team Asami and Korra.”

“Ooh, my name gets to be first?” Asami smiled as she pulled Korra closer. Their foreheads touched and their eyes were all they could see. 

“I’m not entirely selfish.” blue whispered to green. Tanned eyelids slowly covered the cerulean orbs as her lips touched her others. She could feel the smile against Asami's soft red lips Before pulling away. 

"I see." Asami muttered. 

"I just hope I'll still be on good terms after both beatings I'll hand out to you this season." Korra slid her hands out of Asami's and planted them on the bed on either side of her. 

"First, I thought you were done talking about racing? Second, both times? And third, you're not going to beat us, sweetie." Asami counted, tapping the respective number of fingers to Korra's collarbone.

"First, this is more about our future than racing. Second, yes both times: the regular season and championship races. Third doesn't need an answer." Korra smirked, as her eyes darted back and forth between Asami's eyes and lips.

"Really?" red lips mumbled as they moved against the lone wolfs'. "Tell you what? You take the trophy, and you'll get more than a kiss." Asami's voice was dripping with lust. She pressed her fingers against Korra's collarbone, pushing her nearly an arms length away.

"You're such a tease, Sato." Korra pouted.

"You won't win without your team, hotshot." Asami smiled.

"Hmm, this is sounding a lot like IGPX talk..." Korra smirked.

"You started it."


	2. Chapter 2

Sparks kicked up from the reinforced asphalt. The blades of the mech skated across the track, as smooth as if they were on ice. The whirring of the mechanical joints was muted by the almost entrancing grind of metal against pavement. The sun gleamed down on the track, reflecting off the blank jumbotron screens. The mech sped past as a light orange blur.

"You're making really good time." said a voice inside the mechs radio system. "You may even break your record again."

"That's the goal." Korra replied. Her hands gripped the controls as she headed into a spiral. The midfielder's mech was built for speed and evasion but also could throw an effective punch or two. Her mech was nearly bare as far as armor, more by the pilots preference. The arms had a figure eight design, two bars of lightweight steel that ran parallel and crossed at the joints. White adjustable aluminum fins over its extremities helped with aerodynamics but also served as armor to deflect blows and prevent other mechs from easily grabbing the bars of the arms. Hand-like blades were at the end of each arm which dealt penetrative blows and also cut through air well when driving at high speed.

The armor on the mechs legs were similar to the arms. The figure eights were closer together where the bars paralleled. The blades on the bottom of the mech were made of polished lightweight titanium that reduced as much ground resistance as possible. The torso of the mech was shaped like a diamond. And covered in various decals. 

Korra exited the spiral and headed into the last few curves before the stretch to the finish line.

"You're heading into your third lap. You ready?" the voice oozed anticipation.

"When aren't I ready, Kai?" Korra smirked, the glow of her heads up display reflected off her visor. She took in a deep breath and leaned back in her seat. The checkered pavement of the finish line appeared. Her eyes fell down to her speedometer. 392 mph, and 60 more miles of track to go after this last one. The midfielder closed her eyes as she let the breath she forgot she was holding out. Her eyes flung open, the finish line mere seconds away. "Here goes," blue eyes narrowed with purpose as the mech screeched past the line. 

With a pull, twist, and push of her controls, the mech pulled its arms and legs towards its core and folded itself down. Extra blades folded out from its back and the flaps adjusted to slice through the air as her booster ignited. The midfielder accelerated even faster down the track. The grinding grew less loud as she rocketed along the black, skidded pavement. The flicker of the passing lightposts lining the track seemed to blur out everything outside except the blue sky. Her body rumbled along with the steady bumping of road. She leaned into every tight corner she directed her mech through and mostly floated through the rest. The pilot eyed her speedometer, 457 mph, 458, 457, it flashed. The lap had already been halfway finished. Her old record didn't stand a chance.

The controls rumbled as she exited the loop, two more turns until the finish.

"Home stretch, Korra!" Kai nearly cheered.

Korra leaned forward in her seat, as if it would help her to go faster. She rounded the last corner in one smooth motion. The sunset colored blur ramped toward the line, crossing it with blazing lines marking where the blades slid across. Korra deployed her parachute, jerking the mech to decelerate before engaging the brakes.

"How'd I do Kai?" Korra pulled up the video link inside the teams observation area, catching a quick glimpse of grey eyes and messy brown hair as the young man leaned forward and out of view of the camera. 

"It's bringing up the data now, hang tight." Kai replied, still leaning out of view.

"All I need is a time." Korra turned off the video feed from the mech and entered the sequence of buttons that opened the cockpit hood with a faint hiss. She stood up and removed her helmet before stepping out. The midfielder lingered just outside the cockpit to stay within reach of the comm.

"Yeah, you know this thing doesn't give you anything without giving you everything. I'm pretty sure you're somewhere between twenty seven and twenty eight minutes judging by the time." Korra could hear him tapping on a keyboard. "Next time I guess I'll use a stopwatch. Feel free to come on up, it should have something by the time you get up here."

"On my way." Korra smiled, sauntering past the crews that had already began to collect her mech. She walked off the sunny track and up a set of stairs that lead up into the observation deck. Kai leaned back in the large office chair, his hands folded behind his head. Korra pulled up another and took a seat next to him, resting her helmet on the enormous console he sat in front of.

"Should done any second." Kai planted his foot and flicked it, spinning himself around in his chair.

Korra bounced her upper back against her chair, her hard, blue, pilot suit thumping against leather. Korra peered over the glass watching the crews bring out a larger mech. Everything was bulky from the arms, which had neatly organized decals over orange matte paint, and legs, which were equally as bulky but covered in red paint, and the white cockpit. 

Bolin, with a build clearly fit for the mech, tapped on the observation deck doors' window wearing a green suit similar to Korra's in design. He greeted them with a wide grin and and thumbs up, nearly eclipsed by his helmet. Korra and Kai returned them both as he disappeared towards the track. The console beeps, and they both snap their attention on it.towards it. The midfielders grin was wide as it displayed the time in red numbers at the top right of the screen.

"27:45!" they both read. Korra leaped from her seat jamming a fist in the air.

"Congrats! You're officially the fastest active midfielder right now." Kai smiled holding a hand up for a high five and getting and extremely painful one from Korra's over-zealousness and a hard gloved hand from her pilot suit.

"Kai, I'm sorry." Korra quickly grabbed Kai up in a celebratory apologetic hug.

"Nah, it's... I'm fine." he grimaced, struggling between his stinging hand and narrowed airways. "Lemme just get everything ready for Bolins' run. I'll send all the info from yours over to that screen."

The midfielder released the him and plopped into her seat, spinning her chair as all the graphs and charts appeared. She stopped as soon as everything loaded but really only focused on her time.

"I'm all set up here, Bolin, let me know when you're ready." Kai rolled up his sleeves of his yellow Team Element hoodie. 

"You get so many perks in the IG-1." Korra pried her eyes from her record breaking time and checked the many other statistics. 

The screen showed an expanse of information; there were replays of her run with ghost data from other midfielders, torque and aerodynamics charts with respect to different parts of the track, lap times were compared with other racers including defenders and forwards. There was more information here than she ever had access to before. 

"Maybe this is what Asami was talking about." Korra thought aloud.

Kai clicked a button on the console. "You're good?"

"I'm good, little bro!" Bolin's voice reverberated loudly over the speaker. 

"You dont have to yell, Bo." Korra leaned closer to the microphone on the console.

"I'm excited, I can't help it! This is my first IG-1 trial run!" Bolin replied, much quieter this time.

"Don't forget, Bolin. Take it easy on the setup lap so we get an accurate time." Kai's fingers rained upon the keys in front of him.

"Hey, when are you gonna do your run, Kai?" Bolin asked. His face with a thickened raised eyebrow popped up on a monitor.

"I'll go after Mako. Korra usually runs the midfielder mech into the ground after races so the hour should give the guys some time to fix it up." Kai ran a hand through his messy hair. 

"Sorry," Korra shrugged apologetically.

"Alright. I'm starting the countdown." Kai continued his flurry on the keyboard and then tapped on the enter key as the countdown loaded onto every powered on monitor in the room as well as the screens on the starting line. Gray eyes turned from the expanse of displays to Korra as he pressed a button to mute the intercom. "You talked to Asami?"

"Oh, yeah. I visited after we won our last race." Korra smiled. 

"She have any advice for you?" Kai placed a foot on the floor, pushing his chair back and forth.

"She wanted me to remember that I'm part of a team." the midfielder rolled her eyes with a sigh. "I told her I'd beat her when we race so I've gotta work so that actually happens. Especially if this much information is available to all the teams in the IG-1."

"Well she's our first race." he started. "You know she spends a lot of time studying her opponents. And the fact that the two of you are dating means that she knows a bit more than just racing about you. She's gonna be dangerous."

"She's dangerous without any of that. Asami is good. And quiet as it's kept, if she lands any good blows on me I don't know if my mech will make it back to the line." Korra sunk into her chair at the thought.

"Well, opting for more lightweight parts does have its disadvantages." Kai smiled. "You're pretty good at making sure you don't get hit very often. You should be okay."

"Thanks. I've noticed a bit of my evasive style squeaked into yours, kid. I'm proud." Korra reached out to punch Kai's shoulder.

"Thanks. I'd just like to play more, you know?" He shrugged as gray eyes dropped to stare at the floor.

"You will. If you want, I'll talk to coach and see if we can rotate out sometimes." the midfielder rested a hand on her backups shoulder.

"Eh, I dunno." Kai sighed. 

"Well, think about it. I'll give you some time." Korra stood, putting a bit of pressure on Kai's shoulder. "I'm gonna go get out of all this stuff and relax a bit. I'll catch you at practice later?"

"Yeah," Kai leaned back and nodded.

Korra grabbed her helmet from the console and started for the door. She grabbed the handle and began to twist it then froze. "Hey, Kai?"

"Yeah?"

"Aren't I a team player?" 

"Only when you're not in the mech."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The views and comments were slowing down on Mecha Tempest so I decided to see whats going on with the crowd for this fic. If you read them both then MT shoukd have a new chaoter up within the next few days. I havent forgotten

**Author's Note:**

> Something short and sweet to get the ball rolling. I might try to stick to a weekly schedule on this if I can manage it. Quiet as it's kept ive been falling behind on my other fic and need to pick it up. As always let me know what you think. Comments give me life.


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